The Four Ways of Knowing

I recently discovered John Vervaeke’s ideas and his model for knowledge (Four Ps of Knowing). I think it’s a very valuable lens to look through to understand the gap between the way people actually learn and the way most institutions teach.

The 4 ways of knowing are:

1. Propositional
2. Procedural
3. Perspectival
4. Participatory

Propositional Knowledge:

When we talk about learning, especially in an academic context, we usually think about propositional. This is reading information, committing it to memory, and developing beliefs about what is true and false.

The type of memory we rely on for propositional knowledge is semantic, or the type of memory you use if you’re playing trivia.

99% of school work is focused on developing and testing propositional knowledge. Today you’ll often hear people talk about education through a theory vs. practice lens. Theory in that sense covers propositional knowing. Practice refers mostly to the next way of knowing, Procedural.

Procedural Knowledge:

Procedural knowing is the way of knowing that we develop for any skill. It’s a bit easier to think about for physical skills, but applies to event mental tasks. For example, if you learn how to surf, you learn, repeat, and practice the technique. You develop the ability to paddle, get up on the board, and ride a wave. You develop “muscle” memory, so all this becomes sub-conscious.

Perspectival Knowledge:

The next two types of knowing are areas that we almost never think and talk about. First is perspectival knowing. Returning to the surfing example, you develop the procedural knowledge to know “how” to surf, but once you’re out in the ocean watching the waves how do you know which wave to surf? How do you know when to get up on your board and when to bail off? That is all perspectival knowledge.

When we develop your perspectival knowing, you develop an instinct or a gut-feel for when it’s the right time to use the skills you have. Vervaeke refers to the type of memory of this as episodic memory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episodic_memory) or the type of memory you’d access if I asked you to describe the last time you ate chicken wings. You can picture the memory, the other senses invoked, and the way you felt.

Participatory Knowledge:

The final way of knowing, and likely the most important and most often ignored is participatory.

This is the knowledge you gain and the person you become by fully developing a skill. An example is driving a car would be, you study and take the theoretical test (propositional), you get a driving instructor or your parents to take you out so you learn how to turn the wheel, change gears, shift from braking to gas, etc. (procedural), then you practice in a controlled environment like a parking lot or even on a track, you get a feel for directing the car and it becomes more and more instinctual (perspectival), but then you need to go out on the interstate during rush hour, or take a long road trip, you need to learn to navigate a city with thousands of people in cars on the roads, this is where participatory knowing comes in.

Through active engagement in the activity we develop environmental fit, we evolve our sense of self, and we feel a sense of belonging.

Anyone who has ever rented a car and driven on another continent knows this feeling. You have the top 3 levels of knowing how to drive, but if you’re in Vietnam and it’s madness on the roads, your environmental fit is off. It will take you time to develop the participatory knowledge required to engage with the new culture.

Most of the time when we think about learning new skills we find lots of resources to develop propositional knowing, and a good amount for procedural, and then it is very hard to find resources for developing the perspectival and participatory. But if you want to actually learn a language, learn sales or marketing, or whatever it is those are key areas to focus on.

A well-rounded educational experience allows us to develop all four levels, some theory, lot’s of practice, embodiment of the skills, and participation in the real-world environment. It results in a new and expanded sense of self and identity. On the other hand a learning experience that avoids or rejects the deeper levels will always result in frustration and lack-luster results.

A couple of thoughts that I’ll probably add in additional posts:

• Modern life increasingly separates us from participatory ways of knowing. Throughout human history, our cultural and religious practices focused on the deeper ways of knowing with only a little propositional knowing. Today’s culture and religious life is heavily skewed to the propositional at the expense of the other ways of knowing.
• The clearest example to me of the propositional-only focused learning is what you see with people who invest hundreds or thousands of hours into learning a language on apps or in school. They develop their semantic memory of a language, but that is only one small part of being able to speak a language. You can finish everything on Doulingo and test super high on a Spanish exam, but if you don’t engage on the other levels you will show up in Colombia and not be able to connect with anyone.
• This is a great model to understand why things like Crossfit or spin classes are popular.
• This is also a great way to look at your life, how you invest your time, and where might be good to focus as you try to grow and evolve as a person or in your professional life.